Knox Co. Rejoins Familiar Football District

Knox Co. RejoinsFamiliar Football DistrictBy David SharpListed enrollment figures for Missouri High School sports were released on January 25, 2008. New enrollment numbers will be in effect for the 2008-09 and the 2009-10 seasons.The Eagles will stay in Class 1 for Football, and will likely remain in Class 2 for basketball. Knox County may move back to Class 2 in baseball, track and softball. Knox County won their Class 1 girls’ track championship in 2007 and won six state medals. The Eagles were in the Class 1 baseball district championship game, losing to Canton in the final two innings. The Knox County R-I School District turned in their grades 9-12 enrollment along with members of the Missouri State High School Activities Association last fall. Knox County has 196 students listed, up from 189 in the current period. Every two years MSHSAA member schools take a census of their high school enrollment for classification purposes. The listed enrollment figure is taken on a set date and will remain for the next two academic years regardless of enrollment growth or decline within that period.Eight and 11 man football classification is set independently of other MSHSAA sanctioned activities. Participating schools are ranked by listed enrollment in order from the largest to the smallest. Class 1 through 4 has 64 schools each.Class 5 and 6 football schools are typically found in metropolitan areas. The 45 Class 5 schools have from 1325 to 1793 listed students. Class 6 schools number 32, and have between 1797 and 3030 students.Listed enrollment figures reflect the non-public school multiplier enacted beginning with the 2006-07 school year. MSHSAA administrators turned down a proposal to have separate championships for public and non-public schools in 2007.Non-public schools dominate sports such as swimming, golf, tennis and soccer. The multiplier basically moves most non-public schools up one class. Knox County participated in Class 1 in all of their extra-curricular activities except for basketball for the most recent two years. Brashear listed 77 students this time. The Tigers are a Class 1 school in all activities.Another change for 2008-09 is athletic coops. Princeton and Mercer formed a football coop. Princeton has 144 listed students and Mercer has 59. The two schools have their listed enrollments combined for a total of 203.Knox County (196) will join Class 1 District 12 along with Tri-Rivers Conference teams Scotland County (214), North Shelby (134) and Schuyler County (248) in 2008.Schuyler County will become the largest Class 1 football school in the state. The Rams were the smallest Class 2 football team around for 2006 and 2007.The Eagles begin their 2008 varsity football season on August 22 at the Milan jamboree. Knox County opens at Fayette on August 29. The Falcons were 8-3 last season and won their district title.Knox County opens their home varsity football slate with an improving Westran team on September 5, 2008. The Eagles travel to Slater completing their non-conference schedule.The Eagles open their 2008 Tri-Rivers Conference football season at Brookfield on September 19. Knox County came the closest to winning in recent years at Burlington Field in 1995. The Eagles host defending conference champion Clark County on September 26.Knox County hosts Putnam County for their Homecoming Game on October 3. The Eagles travel to a tough Milan Wildcat team on October 10. Milan has won the previous two football meetings with the Eagles. Milan, Putnam and Knox County tied for third in the football conference during the 2007 season.Knox County plays the Clyde Game at Scotland County on October 17. The Eagles have won the Clyde the past two campaigns. The Clyde Game marks the beginning of district action for Knox County.Knox County has their football senior night slated with a powerful North Shelby Raider team on October 24. The Eagles and Raiders hooked up in a 22-21 thriller last season. Ethan Hustead blocked a kick in the last eight seconds, preserving a Zach Parrish touchdown in the closing two minutes for a district win in 2007.The Eagles close their regular season at Schuyler County on Halloween Night. The young Rams will likely improve from their 1-9 finish of a season ago. Scotland County has good young players coming up as well.Football playoff formats have been changed as well. The winner of each district will challenge the second place finisher from another district in the first round of the playoffs. Class 1 District 12 will tangle with the first two finishers in District 11.New listed enrollments are shown in parentheses. Marceline (239), Milan (195), Putnam County (238) and Princeton-Mercer (203) form Class 1 District 11.At the peril of having this story posted in area weight rooms, here is an example. If Knox County wins their district and North Shelby finishes second in District 12 coupled with Milan taking their district 11 title followed by Marceline, the Eagles play the Tigers and the Raiders challenge the Wildcats in round one.In effect an extra round has been added to the football playoffs. First round playoff winners would then play in the Sectional round as they do today.The 64 Class 1 eleven man football schools range from 92 to 248 in terms of listed enrollment. Class 2 eleven man football enrollments go from 262 to 454. Class 3 is 456 to 769 and Class 4 is 770 to 1319. There will be 20 eight man football schools ranging from 47 to 134. Eight man football is limited to schools with listed enrollments of 200 or under.Hallsville along with a Clopton-Ellsberry coop have joined the Class 1 district football hunt. The Missouri Military Academy has sponsored football for years, but did not participate in districts. The Colonels will enter Class 3 football district competition in 2008.Area football schools moving up or down in classification include Kirksville (828). The Tigers will move up from Class 3 to Class 4. Kirksville is now in District 8 along with Hannibal (1125) Jefferson City Helias (1172) and Marshall (898). Kirksville is in the North Central Missouri Conference along with Marshall and Hannibal.MSHSAA attempts to keep conferences together as much as possible so district football games can count as conference contests. Helias is an independent for football after the smaller NCMC schools voted the largest football schools out.Schuyler County moved down to Class 1. South Harrison (272) was bumped up from Class 1 to Class 2. Mexico slid down from Class 4 to Class 3 effecting trading places with Kirksville.Three time defending state champion Harrisonville (833) moved from Class 3 to Class 4. South Shelby won the Class 1 football championship in 2006. The Cardinals repeated as district champs in 2007.South Shelby (262) moved back to Class 2. The Cardinals will join Clarence Cannon Conference rivals Mark Twain (300), Monroe City (293) and Palmyra (375) in District 7.The latest moves break up a long standing Class 2 football district formerly made up of Clark County, Palmyra, Monroe City and Highland. Proponents of the new playoff format brought up strong districts such as this one.Brookfield (354), Clark County (327), Highland (316) and Macon (413) comprise Class 2 football district eight. Moberly (761) remains in Class 3, and is in District 14 with Boonville (616), Odessa and Richmond (498).The most recent listed enrollment figures show North Daviess at Jameson to be the smallest MSHSAA school with a listed 9-12 enrollment of 25. Newtown-Harris tied for 13th smallest in the state with 43 students. The largest public school and the title of biggest high school in Missouri goes to Columbia Hickman with 2860 students listed. St. Louis DeSmet has a multiplied figure of 3030.LaPlata (126) came in as the largest Tri-County Conference school followed by Green City at 13. Brashear is the sixth largest of their nine team conference.Brookfield (354) holds the Tri-Rivers Conference crown followed by Clark County (327), Schuyler County (248). Putnam County (238), and Scotland County (214). Knox County is the sixth smallest school in their conference trailed by Milan (195) and North Shelby at 134.Macon (413) is the largest Clarence Cannon Conference school, followed closely by Centralia (395). Palmyra is third at 325. Highland is the fourth largest CCC school at 316. Mark Twain stands fifth at 300.Basketball district assignments will be announced later this year. Sports with five classes, such as basketball break down as follows. Class 1 is 130 and below. Class 2 figures stand at 131-245. Class 3 ranges from 246-577. Class 4 is 578-1202 and Class 5 is 1203 and above. Four class sport breakdowns such as baseball, softball and track will be announced at a later date.Teams sometimes found on the Eagles and Tiger schedule include Paris (181), Marion County (71), and Salisbury (204).Tri-County Conference schools include Linn County and Novinger with 96 each, Atlanta (75), Bevier (88), Bucklin (63) and Macon County R-IV at New Cambria with 47 students.